If you’ve been pulling your hair out over whether you should even start a blog or not, and frequently asking yourself “What type of blog should I even start?” then you’ll want to read this article to firstly find out whether blogging is for you, and also the EXACT blog niche you should be writing about.
The short answer to what type of blog you should start is that you need to write about a niche that you’re fanatical about. Building a successful blog can take years and years of writing, marketing and search engine optimisation (SEO). So, if you’re only semi-interested in the topic you’ve chosen then you’ll likely be destined for failure.
By writing about a subject that you love, you begin to focus less on the financial rewards of blogging and more on having fun, which in the long-run means that you’ll be asking the right questions, providing the right answers and in turn, creating a genuine connection with your audience. All of which will vastly improve your chances of success.
To clarify what I mean about asking the right questions, I mean that because you’re already a fan of the niche, it’s likely that you’ve already Google searched many questions within the niche, questions that others with similar interests are likely to search for too. This works wonders when trying to come up with ideas for blog topics to write about.
Coming up with good blog niche ideas
As mentioned already, you need to focus your blog around something that you enjoy, mostly because you’re going to be at least 50-100 blog posts in before you start seeing any traffic. Yea, you read that right. I’m not talking about small 500-word blog posts either, I’m referring to high-quality blog posts of over 1,250 words each!
So with that in mind, you need to pick a subject that you’re not going to get bored of anytime soon. This could be a particular hobby that you enjoy, a favourite past time, any skills that you’re good at, certain aspects of your lifestyle (such as diet or parenting) or even subjects that you love to read about in your own free time.
Again, I have to stress that you need to pick a niche that you would really enjoy writing about. You don’t want to be pulling your hair out six months down the line because you’ve got no traffic and you can’t bear to write another word. This is a great opportunity to pick something you love, for me, I’ll definitely be setting up a football-related blog at some point!
But I like a lot of things, which one should I pick?
Like most people, it’s understandable that you’ve got a lot of different interests and you’re tempted to go will all of them under a personal brand, my advice here would be not to. There’s nothing wrong with creating a personal brand around yourself as I have with mikewalterz.com, but you shouldn’t stretch yourself too thin by taking on multiple niches at once.
The main reason for this is because if you’re confused, then your audience will be too. Having a confused audience is a big no-no if you’re serious about growing your blog. That’s why you need to pick one particular subject that you’re interested in, and niche it down as much as possible. This is something that I messed up with when I was promoting both my web design AND marketing services at the same time.
Not only was it confusing but it’s also much harder to establish yourself as an expert within each area, which is something that Google considers when it’s deciding where to rank a site amongst its competitors. Focusing on one subject makes it much easier to develop a solid set of skills and establish yourself as an authoritative figure in the niche.
I’m not sure that there’s much to talk about in that niche
Sure there is, you just have to do your research. As mentioned already, if you’ve chosen a subject that you’re already a fan of, then it’s very likely that you’ll have Google searched hundreds of different queries within that niche, all of which would be the perfect topics to write about in your own words.
A great tool that you can use to come up with blog post ideas is AnswerThePublic. Their service allows you to type in one or two keywords related to your chosen niche, and in turn, it will provide you with an abundance of search queries that people have actually been searching for recently. This gives you great insight into what your next post ideas could be.
This isn’t the only way to find new blog posts ideas though, as I have recently written my own article on 10 ways to consistently come up with new blog post ideas. You can save future-you any headaches by reading the article today!
How can I monetize my blog niche?
Trust me when I say that there are no limitations to how you could make money from your blog, no matter how obscure the niche may seem. Some niches will naturally be able to make more than others but money shouldn’t be the primary goal here, otherwise, you’ll just end up burning yourself out and giving up in the long-run.
In many cases though, monetization is actually a lot easier when you’re writing about a very specific subject, as it’s easier to rank for related terms on Google and you’ll be able to grow a somewhat-cult audience a lot easier.
To further clarify this point, if you were suffering from heart issues, would you prioritise the advice of your GP or the Cardiologist? Exactly, you would listen to the expert in that respective field. The same could be said about niche blogs. People will follow you because you are the primary source of content for the specific subject that they’re interested in.
Establishing yourself as that expert figure will help to build trust with your followers. Trust that is essential when trying to convert said followers into paying customers. If your followers don’t trust you, they won’t buy from you. What you choose to sell them is another story, however.
For the most part, there are many ways to monetize your blog including, but not limited to, affiliate marketing, selling your own products/services, online courses and memberships. I even wrote an article on the 7 different ways that you could monetize your blog. You should check it out to see how you can start making passive income today.
For the sake of providing an example income stream in this article though, if you were writing about the Ketogenic Diet, then you could make potentially make money from:
- Affiliate sales when referring readers to specific products from third-parties, such as food ingredients, cookbooks and cooking equipment
- Selling your own cookbooks (both physical and digital versions)
- Selling online courses on how to live a Ketogenic lifestyle, including cooking classes and the science behind the diet
- And more…
As you can see there are many ways you can monetize your blog, no matter which niche you’re in. It’s worth noting that the more obscure the niche is, the less competitive it’s likely to be – which is good, provided there’s enough demand.
If you’re still struggling to come up with blog niche ideas or how to make money from your blog, then feel free to drop me an email here or let me know in the comments section at the bottom of this article! 🙂
How do I start my blog?
The first step to setting up your blog is deciding which platform to set it up on. My recommendation would be to set your blog up on WordPress (.org) which requires you to purchase a domain and hosting package to power it. I always refer my client to Siteground as they provide fast servers, competitive prices and excellent customer support. Check them out here!
If you want help with how to set up your hosting and blog, then I recommend checking out this beginner’s guide on how to set up your first blog. It will cover everything from setting up with Siteground to publishing your very first post.
There is obviously going to be a monetary cost to setting up your domain, hosting and blog, which you can expect to start at around £75 (approx. $90) per year (costs subject to increase). With that in mind, it’s worth doing prior research on the potential demand and competitiveness of your chosen blog niche before spending a penny. If you need help with that, drop me an email here.
Conclusion
When it comes to picking a blog niche to start, you first have to choose a niche that you would genuinely enjoy writing about for years on end. This can be about a hobby that you enjoy, a certain lifestyle that you live or even things you like to read about personally, to name but a few options. Building a successful blog can take a long time, but with the right focus and consistency, I’m sure you can manage it 🙂
Do you have any questions or feedback on this post? Let me know in the comments below!
